Releasable handle clamp for mop frames



April 29, 1969 F. N. FLOMERFELT RELEASABLE HANDLE CLAMP FOR MOP FRAMES Filed Feb. 21, 1968 INVENTOR.

F arrest N. F lomerfe/f United States Patent US. Cl. 15-144 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The leading end of a handle is fitted in the socket of a ferrule having a tongue which provides a shank. An apertured portion of the shank is optionally turnable 360 fixed to and projecting from one of a pair of plate-type jaws of a clamp. These jaws are spring-biased and snap in place on a component part of a stout wire frame which is jacketed in a cloth pocket atop a conventional-type mop. Washers are fixed atop a surface of one jaw between said jaw and tongue and are marginally provided with keeper notches for a lateral hook-shaped detent on one end of a manually shiftable retaining and releasing latch. The latch comprises a dual slotted cleat which is guidingly keyed on (1) a headed pin and (2) a stud fixed on said tongue. A wafer-thin shim or leaf spring is sandwiched between the tongue and latch to hold the latch in a released or engaged position.

This invention relates to a clamp having spring-biased jaws which can be snapped in place on an attaching frame carried in the usual pouch or pocket atop a suitable mop. The essence of the concept has to do with a manually shiftable latch which permits the handle to be freed and swivelled 360 or, alternatively, latched in any one of three (3) separate positions convenient for straight-away dusting, angled appropriately for overhead wall and ceiling dusting, and otherwise adjusted in any manner necessary or desired.

Briefly, the invention pertains to the improved means for adjustably coupling the leading or push-pull end of an ordinary elongated operating handle to a suitably constructed hitching frame which is retentively pocketed in a cloth or an equivalent pouch atop a suitable mop. More specifically this means comprises a clamp which can be readily attached to or detached from a component part of the aforementioned hitching frame. The clamp, in turn, is characterized by a pair of companion pivotally joined plates having opposed spring biased jaws which are designed and adapted to operatively but releasably grip and fasten the clamp to the predetermined part of the pocketed frame. In carrying out the invention a handle connector unit is provided. The unit is characterized by a ferrule into which a leading end of the handle can be telescopically fitted and securely anchored. The ferrule in turn is provided with a rigid axial tongue-like extension which is herein described as a mounting shank. One of the plates has a finger grip. The other plate of the clamp means has an outstanding assembling and swivelling pin. This pin extends through a bearing hole provided therefor in the shank and thus provides the desired swivelled connection so that the connector unit and handle are then capable of being turned through a full circular path of 360 relative to the clamp if so desired. Then, too, a manually regulatable latch is shiftably slidable on the shank and swivelling pin and keeper means is operatively mounted on the plate which is adjacent to the shank. The latch has a lateral detent which is selectively and releasably engageable at will with the keeper means.

Persons conversant with the art to which the invention relates are aware that it is not new to provide a dual jaw 3,440,677 Patented Apr. 29, 1969 ice clamp which is capable of connection with a frame on a mop and that, as a matter of fact, latch means is known to be old as shown for example in the swivel dust mop holder in a patent to Scalf, 2,861,287.

An object of the present invention is to structurally, functionally and in other ways improve upon prior art latchable clamp means susceptible of connection with a pocketed frame on a mop and, in doing so to provide an innovation which serves the manufacturing economies of manufacturers, can be justly endorsed for use by retailers, and will serve the needs of users satisfactorily.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of a releasable handle clamp for mop frames constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention and showing the same readied for use.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view in elevation showing the essential features of the over-all invention and also showing, in phantom lines, the adjacent feature.

FIGURE 3 is a view in section and with parts in elevation taken approximately on the plane of the section line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view of FIGURE 2.

With reference first to FIG. 1 the mop, which may be conventional, is denoted by the numeral 6 and is provided as usual with a cloth or an equivalent pouch 8 and head 10. The apertured portion 12 of the pouch or pocket serves to accommodate an insertable and removable stout wire or an equivalent frame which is denoted generally at 14 and it is to component part 16 of the frame that the dual jaw clamp 18 is releasably connected.

The clamp 18 is characterized by a first generally flat rectangular plate 20 whose lower edge portion 22 (FIG. 3) provides one jaw with which a lateral flanged jaw 24 on the second plate 26 is cooperable. The plate 20 is provided with an offset suitably constructed finger-grip 28. The lateral flanges 30 on plate 26 overlap coacting flanges 32 at the ends of the plate 20. These overlapping flanges are assembled and hingedly connected by a pivot pin 34. A coil spring 36 circles the pin and has its end portions in divergent relationship and bearing yieldingly against the interior surfaces of the respective plates 20 and 26 in the manner shown in FIG. 3. It will be evident therefore that this clamp 18 lends itself to practical releasable connection with the component part 16 of the frame 14 as brought out in FIG. 1. The connector unit is denoted at 38 and embodies a one-piece construction having an elongated cylindrical ferrule 40 into which the leading end 42 of the elongated handle 44 is fitted and retained. The leading or forward end portion 45 of the ferrule is provided with a flat-faced elongated tongue 46 which is here referred to as a mounting shank. A median portion of the shank as shown in FIG. 3 is provided with an opening which constitutes a bearing for the journal portion 48 of an outstanding assembling and swivelling pin. This pin is carried by the plate 20 and has a terminal enlarged head 50. The shank 46 is also provided with an outstanding stud 52 in line with the pin 48. Spacing washers 54 are sandwiched between the plate 20 and shank 46 and are centrally apertured and surround the headed pin 48. These washers are fixed to each other and also to the plate 20 and as shown in FIG. 4 are provided with circumferentially spaced selectively usable keeper notches conveniently denoted at 56, 58, and 60 in FIG. 4. The latch means is denoted generally by the numeral 62 and comprises an elongated rectangular cleat 64 which is interposed between the shank 46 and head and has an elongated slot 66 slidingly or shiftably mounted on the headed end portion of the pin 48. The forward end portion of the cleat is bent as at 68 and reduced to provrde a hook-like detent 70 which is selectively engageable with the aforementioned keeper notches 56, 58 and 60 in the manner shown in FIG. 4. This cleat provides a manually applicable and releasable latch and obviously when the latch is completely released as shown in phantom llnes in FIG. 3 the handle 44 and connector unit 38 can be turned through a complete circular path of 360 relative to the headed swivelling pin 48. Alternatively, the fingerpiece 72 at the opposite end of the latch can be manipulated to engage the detent with a selected one of the keeper notches 56, 58 or 60 to obtain the desired latching action. For best results the cleat is provided with a second slot 74 which is aligned with the first slot 66 and which is slidably keyed on the stud 52. Hence the latch can be pushed back and forth in a controllable manner. It should be noted that in order to obtain the desired latch positroning and retaining result a shim-like leaf spring 76 1s provided and is keyed in position on the pins 48 and 52 and is sandwiched between the latch and the shank to thus regulate and control the position of the latch.

It will be clear that by sliding or shifting the pos1t1on of the latch 62 forward the relative position of the mop may be changed. When the latch is left open the mop may rotate a full 360. By merely closing the latch the position may be locked at 40, 90 or 45, respectively. I

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be restored to in actual practice.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. Means for adjustably coupling the leading push-pull end of an elongated operating handle to an accessible hitching frame which is retentively pocketed for use atop a mop comprising, in combination, a readily attachable and detachable clamp embodying a pair of pivotally joined plates having opposed spring-biased jaws designed and adapted to operatively but releasably grip and attach said clamp to a component part of said hitching frame, a handle connector unit embodying a ferrule into which the leading end of said handle can be fittingly anchored, said ferrule having a rigid tongue-like extension providing a mounting shank, one of said plates having an outstanding assemblying and swivelling pin, said shank having a bearing hole and said pin being journalled in said hole whereby said connector unit and handle are capable of turning through a full circular path of 360 relative to said clamp if so desired, and manually regulatable latch means shiftably slidable on said shank and swivelling pin, respectively, keeper means operatively mounted on said other plate, and said latch means having a detent selectively and releasably engageable at will with said keeper means, said plates being substantially fiat, disposed opposite each other in spaced parallel relationship and having paired end flanges which are overlapped and pivoted to each other, and wherein said assembling and swivelling pin is provided at one end with an enlarged head, and said latch comprising a cleat having a first slot which is slidably mounted on said pin and retained in operative position on said pin by said head.

2. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 1, and wherein said cleat has a second slot aligned with said first slot and slidingly keyed on a keying stud provided therefor on and projecting laterally from said shank.

3. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 2, wherein said detent is hook-like in form and is provided at one end of said cleat, and also wherein said cleat is provided at an opposite end with a finger-piece which assists in shifting and releasably applying and retracting said latch.

4. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 1, and, in combination, a constantly tensioned leaf spring interposed and sandwiched between said cleat and shank and yieldingly retaining said cleat in a set position whether the detent is engaged or released, as the case may be.

5. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 4, and wherein said keeper means comprises washerlike spacer means which is fixed on said other plate and is cooperatively interposed between said other plate and a coacting surface of said shank.

6. Means for adjustably coupling the leading push-pull end of an elongated operating handle to an accessible hitching frame which is retentively pocketed for use atop a mop comprising, in combination, a readily attachable and detachable clamp embodying a pair of pivotally joined plates having opposed spring-biased jaws designed and adapted to operatively but releasably grip and attach said clamp to a component part of said hatching frame, a handle connector unit embodying a ferrule into which the leading end of said handle can be fittingly anchored, said ferrule having a rigid tongue-like extension providing a mouting shank, one of said plates having a finger-grip, the other plate having an outstanding assembling and swivelling pin, said pin extending outwardly through a bearing hole provided in said shank and having an outer end terminating in an integral latch mounting head, said shank being journalled on said pin and being permissably manually turnable through a 360 path, spacing washers sandwiched between said shank and said other plate and fixed to said plate and surrounding said pin, segmental marginal edge portions of said washers having circumferentially spaced selectively usable keeper notches, a manually regulatable cleat shiftably slidable on an adjacent surface of said shank and having a first slot slidable on said pin and held in place on said shank by said mounting head, said cleat providing a retaining and releasing latch and having a lateral hook-like detent at one end which can be retentively but releasably seated in a selected one of said keeper notches.

7. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 6, and wherein said cleat is provided at an opposite end with an accessible finger-piece to assist a user when shiftably sliding said latch in a manner to apply and release said detent, said cleat also provided with a second slot in alignment with said first slot and slidingly keyed on a keying stud which is fixed on said tongue in cooperative alignment with said assembling and swivelling pm.

8. The coupling means defined in and according to claim 7, and a shim-like leaf spring sandwiched between said tongue and latch and possessed of the inherent spring tension required to yieldingly and retentively hold said latch in whatever position desired at will.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,655,413 10/1953 Russell. 2,861,287 11/1958 Scalf. 3,029,454 4/1962 Short et al 15-147 3,357,036 12/1967 Goldstein et al. 15l47 DANIEL BLUM, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 15-229; 306-12 

